Instead did a casual pickup, it's Legion so plopped down the Dwarf on the whole Fyanna-toasts-Thexus-anyway theory.
Gorten1 - Earthbreaker, Siege Crawler, Ninja Pig, 2x Kayazy Eliminators, Eiryss2, Harlen Versh, Anastasia, Thor, Aiyanna and Holt
vs
Lylth3 (Oracles of Annihilation) - 3x Angels, Carnivean, Naga, Bolt Thrower, 2x Forsaken, Sorerress on Hellion, Succubus, Shepherd
The evil dragon list is pulled from SR2016 net success, I'd expect it to be changed considerably once Wonder man starts tweaking (Where art thou units).
I lose the roll (Dammit 'stasia!), Legion pick first because that's how they roll. The table is somewhat neutral, aside from one zone having a big arse forest that must at all costs be denied to Legion beasts hiding behind it while able to threaten charging my Huge Bases. Otherwise my flag is immersed in rubble, Legion gets a central cloud to hide behind, there's water on the way to the right zone and a couple wall around the Legion side. Legion also has a pair of conjoined trench templates, they are not relevant as you'd expect.
Uh.....it's Epic Outlast. I could hit arrow and punch up to put in their, but why do that when I could expand that effort typing about not doing it?
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Legion 1: The evil dudes form a block around their flag, Battle Host and Windwall up.They make sure to stay shy of my advance and pew pew range for the most part.
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Merc 1: As I consider how I'm going to play this out I realise this matchup is awful. The Angels out threat me for goddamn days. I conclude that I have to draw attacks, either on Gorten or damaging my Huge bases without killing them.
My list divides into two. The most scorable elements are in the centre of the board, but that territory is so far out of my control it's funny if torture is your jam.
Left side, the Crawler runs up into charges range of the left Angel (Including the stupid Seraph animus thingy). The Pigs move up on the left, Brine goes behind the forest in theoretical threat range of the centre flags. The Red Kayazy split, unit leading going into the rubble to die, the grunt running way to the back left to score the left zone in the future.
Right wise, Gorten moves up into gun range of the Angels and Lylth3, camping three after putting a wall down on the right. Earthbreaker moves up behind said wall, at least one Angel can still get into melee to try to draw in the attempted attrition. Harlen runs up behind that wall to draw out an attack.
Aiyanna and Holt hang way back behind the Earthbreaker.
Eiryss, deployed on the far right, moves up, shoots down the forward placed Shepherd, repositions to be next to a wall on the right flank. Green Kayazy run to threaten anything that comes in and kills said elf.
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Legion 2: I'm expecting either a middling assassination run or optimistic charges, either way opening up my path to an attrition win if Gorten doesn't die.
Neither of these happen. Legion doubles down and hangs back. Hmph.
The Sorceress flies over, fails to spray Eiryss down, repo's to engage.
The beasts and Lylth form an even......blockier block? (If you haven't worked out by now the C grade in English class was my wheel house).
Along the way the Succubus goes to the Legion flag, Lylth kills Harlen to pop a free Windwall. The suicide Kayazy gets imploded by the Carnivean spray.
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Merc 2: Alright, that didn't go as expected and I'm not super positioned to score well. The Angels have moved far enough forward that now Gorten has to fall back to avoid the pain. Wind Wall is also a pain in the arse.
Left wise, the Pigs move forward a little bit, stay hiding behind the forest. The Red Eliminator joins them. The Crawler move up, as the Succubus isn't quite in the Wind Wall. The first shot misses, hits with the scatter and puts it on one box. The second hits, crit staggering the nearby Angel and imploding the attachment. That stops that opposing scoring at least.
Right wise, Earthbreaker gets Tuned Up/Magic Weaponed, moves up, shoots at the right most Angel at the 12 inch mark, rolls max shots. I boost to hit, sadly leave it on about eight boxes, so that wasn't in the plan. Gorten goes behind the Colossal to live, which ends up in the killbox which I don't really have a choice about.
Extreme right, ambushing Anastasia charges into the Sorcerres, hoping to kill it so the Eliminators can be held back for future scoring. She needs to spike a little on the damage, scrubs it alas so the Kayazy come in and get it done. Eiryss is now freed up, she advances into the back field, shoots a Forsaken and puts it on a couple boxes.
I get a point for the left zone, Legion get two for my killbox, so 1-2 to Legion.
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Legion 3: Alright, I've worked out the game plan again. Legion come in, probably kill the Earthbreaker, Gorten can then charge one of them, feat them across. Ninja Pig and Crawler eat them over the next two rounds.
It transpires that Legion don't give a flying fuck about my narrative of future events, they once more double down to hang back and pew pew me.
The Seraph moves out to the right, kills Eiryss and Anastasia with shots. Lylth toes the right zone, kills the Kayazy to pop out Windwall. The Staggered Angel and the Bolt Thrower move a bit out to the right. A Forsaken move to the Legion flag.
Legion score their friendly flag and the right zone, I get the left, scores now 2-4.
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Merc 3: Well, no choice now but to score some points less this implode on me.
Right wise, the Crawler moves up, I forget about Windwall which gets placed correctly this time so I end up shooting the Bolt Thrower for a few points instead. Brine gets smoked forward, he walks into the Angel and Bolt Thrower on the left, pops Animus, boosts to hit all his attacks on the Angelius and leaves it on 6 boxes. This is going.....poorly....
Earthbreaker gets Tuned Up and Magiced, advances, toes the right zone, shoots down the super damaged Angel and lightly wings the Seraph.
Brine contests the Legion flag, so I score the left zone and bring it to 3-4, still in Legion's favour.
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Legion 4: On the left, the Angel and Bolt Thrower kill Brine. The Carnivean and other remaining Angel Charge the Earthbreaker, poor damage rolls only take out 55% or so. The Naga toes the left zone, Seraph flies back to the centre, Lylth Wind Walls. The centre Forsaken runs to the Merc flag, the other Forsaken falls short of getting to the Legion flag.
Legion score my flag and the right zone, now 3-5 to Legion.
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Merc 4: Kill stuff? Attrition seems like it's going to work out.
Gorten kills the Forsaken on my flag, feats on the Carnivean/right Angel. Thor repairs the Earthbreaker, said Jack then kills the Angel and messes up the Carnivean. I then activate Aiyanna and Holt, because I've screwed this order of activations up well and truly. She harms the Carnivean, Holt aims and kills the beast like a boss. I'd hoped to score the right zone, hind that was greedy.
Left wise, the Crawler bulldozes the Naga out of the zone and stays engaging, hits it with its melee attack for some damage, shoots down the Bolt Thrower, fails to land a hit on the damaged Angelius.
Rorsh moves in, burns his focus stack making attacks on said Angel, lands a hit but only does a couple points. It loses its Spirit at least. Red Kayazy stays in hiding to score.
I get the left zone, now 4-5, still against me.
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Legion 5: Frenzy checks are passed. Angel and Naga go into the Crawler, take off a good half of its health. Lylth shoots Rorsh, puts him on one box. The Seraph goes just above the left zone, shoots Rorsh who passes his tough check and survives by dint of Feign Death.
The last Forsaken moves to the backfield of the right to contest in future turns.
Crawler contests the Legion flag, so no scores.
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Merc 5: Attrition is now excellent. There's a slight confuzzle over Dual Attacks interaction while engaged by something. I say screw it and just shoot at Lylth, the Battle Engine living last turns means attrition is inexorably on my side so it's just a matter of shoring up the scoring.
Earthbreaker gets repaired, moves across, shoots the Naga and kills it. Pew pews on Lylth then take out a good chunk of her boxes. Gorten hides behind the colossal, Holt turns the right zone (Note: Think we screwed that up, as we score this without consideration for Aiyanna not being the zone. Whoops.).
Crawler shoots Lylth (Rorsh toughing stopped Windwall proccing), leaves her on about four boxes.
Scores not at 5 apiece from the right zone (Wait, Gorten is toeing, I did it right! Woot!)
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Legion 6: Beasts pass their Threshold checks.
Seraph moves up , shoots down the Red Kayazy (Dammit) and causes Rorsh to tough again.
The Angel moves across, misses The Crawler with the Armour Pierce attack, so that was....surprising. Rorsh then gets eaten, Crawler lives with about 8 boxes. Lylth camps it up and hangs on the flag. The right Forsaken contests the right zone and hides behind the wall.
No one scores, still 5 each.
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Merc 6: Earthbreaker move up to contest the Legion flag (couple mill short of charging Lylth), kills the Forsaken with a Torpedo, then alongside Holt, the Crawler and a double shot from Gorten I utterly flub killing Lylth. Thor runs to my flag to hold off the inevitable.
I score my flag and the right zone, 7-5 to me.
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Legion 7: Technically there's a clock early in the turn, we ignore for the sake of playing it out. Lylth moves up and the Seraph comes around, they both shoot at Gorten camping 2. The seraph rolls one shot, so Gorten is left on 8 boxes with no focus. Re-rolling with the Seraph rolling max shots leaves the dwarf alive due to tough. Legion basically left it somewhat to long to go for it.
That was a lot more of a prolonged struggle then I ever expected. Super terrain dependent. Crawler is so sweet these days, we live in mad times.
